Proper etiquette on social networking sites
Wednesday, March 25, 2009 at 03:53PM Social media marketing is an important part of online product promotion. However, there is a code of etiquette that one must follow in a social network. If you were to go to a party and socialize with people, you wouldn’t just be overbearing or rude. You also wouldn’t go into a party and try to sell anything to people you don’t know. This is similar to the online social media world.
Social networks are just an extension of the real world. People who are in social networks expect the same rules of etiquette that they follow in their real lives. When you grow up, your parents teach you good manners. They show you how to eat properly, how to speak respectfully and how to dress well. By the time you grow up, these behaviour patterns are subconsciously ingrained in you and you interact with people accordingly. This behaviour also carries over to the online world. A person’s personality reflects on their online avatar as well. If you want to succeed in online promotions, you have to keep real life experiences in mind.
Let us compare the online world to a party you may be invited to. If you wanted to make a good impression at the party, you have to start with dressing well and grooming yourself well. Similarly, in the online world, if you join a social network like MySpace or Facebook, you have to have a good profile of your own. An empty profile always makes you look bad. Your profile should tell people about you. Put a nice picture and some information about yourself. You don’t have to put personal information about yourself. That is dangerous, but you should never have a blank profile.
You have now entered the party and people see that you are dressed well and approachable. The next step is to look around the room for people you may know. This will make you feel more comfortable and they may introduce you to new people. In the online world, you do the same. When you join a social network, you look for friends and add them to your friends list. You also send people in your mailing list an invite to join the social network and be on your friends list.
Now that you have met your friends, you can now start to meet new people and find something in common. That way, you can expand your social circle. Similarly, in the online world, you try to find people with common interests. It is not very hard to do as every social network has groups. These groups can range from interests to professional groups. Every group has a large number of members who get together to share thoughts and ideas.
If you were with your group of friends and someone new joined your circle and tried to sell you something within the first few minutes of meeting you, wouldn’t you consider that to be rude? This is a very important lesson. This applies to the online world too. There are too many people trying to sell too many things online. People are tired of them and tend to ignore them.
Here are some things to remember before you promote a product in a social network:
- People are always trying to do a direct sell online. If you do the same, you’ll be ignored, just like them. You may even be kicked out or banned from the network. Learn to be patient and recognize the opportunity to promote the product.
- Make friends with the right people. You will never succeed in selling a refrigerator to an Eskimo. Similarly, if you target the wrong target audience, you won’t make many sales. Research your product and make a list of people who will be more likely to be interested in what you have to offer.
- Take your time. Make sure you participate in the social network and make friends. Take the time to build your reputation. If you do that successfully, people will give more importance to what you have to say.
- Join groups. There are many niche groups within social networks. For example, if you are a fan of the Thriller album by Michael Jackson, Facebook has a group of 15,000 people. If the niche you like doesn’t exist, create it. You will be surprised at how soon these groups get participants.
All in all, don’t do anything in social media networks that you wouldn’t deem appropriate in the real world. Most people don’t know this. If you are willing to do the hard work and create the right opportunities, you will get a lot more success for a lot less work than the average online marketer.



